October 2023 Newsletter: Are Big Ticket Tours Over for the Waleses?
Their last major tour (the Caribbean in 2022) has put the couple in a difficult conundrum.
It is the October newsletter! Kate made seven appearances this month, all of which took place on or before the 15th of the month. So for the entire second half of October, we did not hear from or see the Princess of Wales. I do miss seeing Kate out and about more consistently, but as we have discussed many times over the years, being present to her children is her most important job. Clearly, the job of mother is getting more time-consuming not less so as the children get older, which makes sense.
Paging through Pippa Middleton’ book Celebrate, which I loved, by the way, Pippa describes her childhood and the family’s traditions. Because most women who enjoyed happy childhoods create similar environments for their own children, I think Celebrate gives us a very nice window into traditions that George, Charlotte, and Louis are enjoying, as well. I am sure they are enjoying plenty of ghoulish treats, costumes, and autumnal feasting. Here are some of Pippa’s memories from her childhood:
This is my son’s first Halloween. He is still too young for it all, but we are dressing him up as a little lamb and will take him to all the houses on the cul-de-sac to say hello. Then it is home for chili in front of the fire, pumpkin bars, and Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace. Happy Halloween to you and yours.
Meanwhile, King Charles and Queen Camilla began their tour of Kenya today. Leading up to the tour, the King was under some pressure to apologize for acts committed by the British during the Mau Mau Rebellion—an uprising in the 1950s by the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, a guerrilla force, against the British authorities at that time. It reminded me that as 2023 winds to a close, William and Kate never did do an overseas tour this year. There were lots of rumors the couple would announce a tour in the “second half” of 2023 to mark Charles’ coronation, but obviously that never materialized.
Their last real tour was to the Caribbean in March 2022, where their progress between the island nations was beleaguered by various accusations of racism, from complaints about the royal family’s roots in colonial history (the very reason the couple were on tour there) to complaints about the optics of various pictures. You might remember the couple were excoriated by outlets for this photo (and others from the same series) at a park in Trench Town, Kingston, Jamaica:
They were also lambasted for the closing military parade with the Jamaican Defense Force. Some quarters were offended by the images of William and Kate in classic ensembles riding in an open-top vehicle. The pictures hearkened back to Queen Elizabeth II’s visit, when Kenya was still a colony.
I found the complaints nonsensical. Should William and Kate have refused to shake the hands of all the sweet kids who had gathered to peer at them through the chain link fence at the sport center? Meghan was recently criticized for sending an advance team to the schools she visited in New York, demanding a host of new items to make the aesthetic match her desired “look“ for the visit. A lot of people thought that was ridiculous, but if William and Kate had sent out a clean-up crew to review all their locations to be sure everything was Instagram worthy, I guess that cyclone fence might have been gone, thus averting the negative headlines. Which is better? Meeting people in their authentic surroundings or cleaning everything up for pristine optics? Until this uproar, I think many would have said stick with authenticity.